April 16, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Rochelle Becker, (858) 337-2703

NUCLEAR REVIVAL DIES IN COMMITTEE: Bill to lift 30-year state ban defeated

Today, a controversial bill that would have allowed the construction of 
nuclear power plants to resume in California died in committee before 
reaching the floor of the State Assembly.

AB 719 (Devore) would have struck down California's 1976 Nuclear 
Safeguards Act, a moratorium on building nuclear power plants until a 
permanent solution to the storage of high-level radioactive waste is 
developed. The Assembly's Natural Resources Committee, chaired by 
Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, voted ­ 4 to 2 to uphold the ban. Several 
members who expressed concern about lifting the ban were not there when 
the vote was counted as they had conflicting bills in other Committees.

The California legislature enacted the Nuclear Safeguards legislation to 
prohibit new plant construction because of the federal government's 
failure to create a central nuclear waste repository. Thirty-one years 
later, no such solution exists and approximately 75,000 tons of 
radioactive byproducts of nuclear power generation have accumulated and 
are stored adjacent to the nation's rivers, lakes and oceans awaiting 
disposal.

According the Resources Committee's analysis of the Devore bill, "the 
federal waste disposal program has been plagued with technical and legal 
challenges, managerial problems, licensing delays, persistent weaknesses 
in quality assurance for the program, and increasing costs."

The Devore bill claimed to address the need to reduce carbon dioxide 
emissions to curb global warming. According to the California Energy 
Commission, the most significant reductions in CO2 emissions from 
electricity generation can be achieved through energy efficiency 
programs and integrating renewable energy resources -- solar, wind, 
thermal, biomass and hydropower-- into electricity supplies.

"The so-called nuclear renaissance and the idea the nuclear power is the 
way to combat climate change is based on a tall stack of fallacies, 
unsupported by past experience or future promises," said Rochelle 
Becker, Executive Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, 
which spearheaded opposition to the Devore bill. “Just because nuclear 
power proponents call their technology green, doesn’t make it so,”

"The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility welcomes every opportunity to 
discuss issues of nuclear power and waste versus solutions to global 
warming that focus on efficiency and renewable energy with Assemblyman 
Devore and all members of our state legislature. We anticipate the 
results of an upcoming study by the California Energy Commission that 
will analyze the costs, benefits and risks of continuing down a nuclear 
energy path will lead us to a clearer understanding of where to invest 
our energy dollars,” Becker said.

Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility is an educational and advocacy 
organization that works with other environmental and policy groups to 
stop nuclear power development and relicensing of aging nuclear 
facilities in California and promote create clean, renewable and 
economic energy sources that will create jobs, provide energy 
independence and serve as a model for other states and countries. For 
more information, see: www.a4nr.org



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